MISRATA, Libya, (Reuters) – Libyan troops captured by rebels in Misrata said today the army had been ordered to retreat from the western port, and a rebel spokesman said soldiers had booby-trapped bodies and buildings as they fled.
The last large city held by rebels in western Libya, Misrata had been under a punishing government siege for nearly two months and hundreds of civilians have died in the fighting.
“We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday,” one government soldier, Khaled Dorman, told Reuters from the back of a pickup truck
He was among 12 wounded soldiers brought to a hospital for treatment in Misrata, 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Blasts and machinegun fire could be heard in the distance.
Another serviceman, asked by a Reuters correspondent if the government had lost control of Misrata, said “yes”.
Rebel spokesman Gemal Salem later told Reuters by telephone from Misrata that Muammar Gaddafi’s forces had left the city but remained outside and would still be in a position to bombard it.
“Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gaddafi’s forces, some are killed and others are running away,” he said.
Salem said the rebels in Misrata would now help those elsewhere in western Libya against Gaddafi’s forces, who cracked down on the west early on in the uprising against the Libyan leader’s four-decade-old rule after the east fell to the rebels.
The Libyan government acknowledged late yesterday the siege had been broken when rebels seized the port and NATO air strikes had taken their toll. “The tactic of the Libyan army is to have a surgical solution, but it doesn’t work, with the air strikes it doesn’t work,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said.
“The situation in Misrata will be eased, will be dealt with by the tribes around Misrata and the rest of Misrata’s people and not by the Libyan army,” he told reporters in Tripoli.
Another rebel spokesman in Misrata, Abdelsalam, said pro-Gaddafi tribes were in a minority in the area:
“There are two small pro-Gaddafi settlements outside Misrata. They make up less than one percent of the population of Misrata and the surrounding area.”
“Those people know that when Gaddafi’s regime falls, they will fall with it,” he added, predicting the government would boost their strength by paying mercenaries to pose as tribesmen.
Salem said rebels were now combing Misrata and clearing the streets. Before leaving, he said, Gaddafi’s forces had booby-trapped bodies, houses and cars.
“One man was opening his fridge when he went to his house after the Gaddafi forces left it this morning and it blew up in his face. Bodies the same. When the rebels are trying to lift a body it blows up,” he said.
“We have had three people killed because of that and 15 wounded.”
